TWENTY-THREE  YEARS 


OF 


HOME  MISSION  WORK 


IN  THE 


Presbytery  of  Mecklenburg, 

Synod  of  North  Carolina. 


REV.  WM.  E.  McILWAIN,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

I  1893. 

BY  REQUEST  OF  THE  PRESBYTERY, 


Birmingham,  Ala.: 
Dispatch  Printing  Co.,  Printers  and  Binders, 
1893. 


Action  taken  by  the  Presbytery  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  held  in  Statesville,  N.  C,  during  the  session 
of  Synod : 

"The  Presbytery  of  Mecklenburg  endorses  this 
manuscript  as  a  trustworthy  record  of  its  Home  Mis- 
sion Work,  and  extends  its  thanks  to  Rev.  Wm.  E. 
Mcllwain  for  his  faithful  and  painstaking  labor  in  pre- 
paring it,  and  requests  him  to  publish  the  same  in 
such  form  and  quantity  as  will  secure  its  easiest  and 
widest  distribution. " 


Attest : 


R.  Z.  Johnston, 


Stated  Clerk. 


Lincolnton,  N.  C,  Oct.  21,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

Page 


This  Presbytery  a  Mission  Presbytery   7 

CHAPTER  II. 

New  Churches  Organized  since  the  Formation  of  the 
Presbytery  in  1869   11 

CHAPTER  III. 

Manses  Built  Since  1869   12. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Work  of  the  Year  1891   ,   12; 

CHAPTER  V. 

Home  Missions  Over  Done   14 

CHAPTER  VI. 

the  grroavth  of  the  presbytery  as  a  whole  in  twenty- 
three  Years   19 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Plan  of  the  Presbytery  by  which  these  Results 

were  Attained   21 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  New  Presbytery   24 

CHAPTER  IX. 

General  Statistics  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 

United  States  and  in  the  World   27 


NOTE. 


The  origin  of  this  contribution  to  Home  Mission 
Work  is  as  follows : 

The  author  was  for  seventeen  years  intimately  con- 
nected with  this  work  in  the  Presbytery  of  Mecklen- 
burg, and  having  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Home  Missions  made  his  last  annual  report  to  the 
Presbytery  before  leaving  its  bounds,  the  Presbytery 
approved  of  this  report  and  requested  its  publication 
for  circulation  among  its  churches. 

After  long  delay  on  account  of  constant  and  pres- 
sing duties  in  the  Evangelistic  work  in  North  Carolina 
and  Alabama  this  little  book  is  at  last  prepared,  pub- 
lished and  sent  forth  on  its  mission  to  serve  the  great 
cause  of  Home  Missions. 

My  purpose  has  been  to  show  what  can  be  done 
to  extend  Presbyterianism  in  one  of  the  Old  States 
of  the  Union  and  where  there  are  no  rapidly  growing 
cities  and  practically  no  immigration. 

Author. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/twentythreeyearsOOmcil 


TWENTY-THREE  YEARS 

OF 

HOME  MISSION  WORK 

IN  THE 

Presbytery  of  Mecklenburg, 
synod  of  north  carolina. 


CHAPTER  I. 

When  this  Presbytery  was  organized  by  order  of  the 
Synod  of  North  Carolina,  October  16,  1869,  a  large 
mission  territory  was  assigned  the  new  Presbytery.  It 
was  originally  composed  of  the  following  counties,  viz : 
Anson,  Union,  the  greater  part  of  Mecklenburg, 
Lincoln,  Gaston,  Cleaveland,  Polk,  Rutherford,  Bun- 
come,  Henderson,  Transylvania,  Madison,  Haywood, 
\  Jackson,  Clay,  Macon  and  Cherokee.  These  seven- 
teen counties  were  afterwards  increased  to  nineteen 
by  the  erection  of  the  two  new  counties,  Graham 
and  Swain,  which  are  located  in  the  extreme  western 
part  of  the  Presbytery,  and  every  one  of  these  were 
missionary  counties,  with  perhaps  the  two  exceptions 
of  Gaston  and  Mecklenburg.  We  can  scarcely  realize 
to-day  how  few  and  feeble  Presbyterian  churches 
were  in  most  of  these  counties  in  1869.  Let  us  glance 
at  the  facts  as  they  appear  in  the  minutes  of  1870. 
We  had  then  only  one  church  (Lebanon)  in  Anson 
county,  and  this  church  though  credited  with  fifty- 
nine  members,  had  given  nothing  the  year  previous 
for  any  cause,  not  even  for  pastoral  support. 


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HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


In  Union  county  in  1869,  Bethlehem  was  our  only- 
church,  and  although  credited  with  forty  members, 
such  was  its  isolation  and  consequent  neglect  by  the 
Presbytery  that  it  was  in  a  very  feeble  state.  It 
reported  nothing  given  for  any  cause 'in  1869.  In  Lin- 
coln county  there  were  three  churches,  viz  :  Lincoln- 
ton,  Unity  and  Machpelah,  with  a  combined  mem- 
bership of  116.  In  Rutherford  county  there  were  two 
churches,  Rutherfordton  and  Brittain,  having  a  mem- 
bership of  113.  In  Polk  county  we  had  only  one 
church,  Sandy  Plains,  with  eight  members.  In  Hen- 
derson county  there  were  two  churches,  Henderson- 
ville  with  twenty-nine  members,  and  Mills'  River  with 
forty-one  members.  In  Buncome  county  two  churches, 
Asheville  with  eighty-three  members,  and  Swannanoa 
with  forty-six  members.  In  Macon  county,  two 
churches,  Franklin  with  twenty-three  members,  and 
Morrison  with  forty-three  members.  In  Clay  county, 
one  church,  Hiawassee,  with  thirty  members.  Hay- 
wood county  had  only  one  church,  Bethel,  with 
thirty-one  members.  In  the  following- counties  there 
was  no  organized  church,  viz :  Cleaveland,  Jackson, 
Madison  and  Cherokee,  and  in  each  of  the  counties, 
Union,  Anson,  Polk,  Haywood  and  Clay,  there  was 
only  one  weak,  discouraged  country  church.  In  other 
words,  not  counting  Mecklenburg  and  Gaston  coun- 
ties, the  former  with  eleven  churches  and  2,084  mem- 
bers, and  the  latter  with  seven  churches  and  563 
members,  and  we  have  fifteen  counties  with  only 
eighteen  organized  churches,  and  these  containing 
only  about  729  members,  or  less  than  fifty  members 
to  a  county  and  paying  less  than  $2,000  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  gospel.  Surely  this  was  a  Mission  Pres- 
bytery when  of  its  3,376  members  not  less  than 
2,647  were  found  in  the  two  counties  of  Mecklenburg 
and  Gaston,  and  of  its  thirty-six  churches  one-half  of 
them  were  found  in  these  two  counties. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  work  done  in  a  few  of 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG.  9 

these  mission  counties.  Let  us  begin  with  Anson 
county  on  the  east.  As  already  stated,  we  then  had 
only  one  church  (then  kno\Vn  as  Lebanon  and  now 
as  Morven)  in  that  county,  and  the  minutes  of  1870 
do  not  credit  that  church  with  one  dollar  given  for 
any  cause,  not  even  for  pastoral  support.  How  dif- 
ferent to  day  !  The  old  church  has  been  torn  down 
and  rebuilt  at  Morven,  a  station  on  the  Carolina  Cen- 
tral railroad,  where  we  have  a  church  of  four  elders, 
five  deacons  and  seventy-three  members,  contributing 
annually  about  $500  for  all  purposes  and  owning 
church  property  worth  $1,000.  At  Wadesboro  we 
have  a  church  of  thirty-three  members  giving 
annually  about  $600  for  all  purposes  and  having 
church  and  manse  property  worth  about  $3,500. 
At  Polkton,  in  the  same  county,  we  have  an  or- 
ganized church  with  a  small  membership,  owning 
church  property  valued  at  $800  and  giving  annually 
about  $100  for  all  purposes.  So  then,  where  a  few 
years  ago,  we  had  only  one  organized  church,  we 
have  now  three ;  where  we  had  almost  no  church 
property  we  now  have  $5,300  worth,  and  where  our 
only  church  then  paid  nothing  our  churches  are  now 
contributing  annually  about  $1,200  for  all  objects. 
In  Union  county,  instead  of  one  small,  neglected, 
dying  coun:ry  church,  we  to  day  have  the  following 
churches:  Monroe  Church  with  4  elders,  5  deacons, 
1 19  members,  owning  church  property  worth  $4,000, 
and  contributing  annually  for  all  purposes  about 
$1,000;  Waxhaw  Church  with  3  elders,  2  deacons, 
46  members,  owning  church  property  worth  $1,000, 
and  paying  annually  about  $200  for  all  purposes ; 
Banks  Church  with  3  elders,  2  deacons,  55  members, 
owning  church  property  worth  $900,  and  paying 
annually  $500  or  $600 ;  Bethlehem  Church  with  2 
elders,  2  deacons,  36  members,  paying  annually 
about  $100,  and  owning  church  property  worth  per- 
haps $400;  Stephens  Church  has  2  elders,  1  deacon, 


IO 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


35  members,  and  is  making  preparations  to  build  a 
house  of  worship ;  Beulah  Church  has  now  I  elder 
and  27  members,  and  Barclay  Church  has  2  elders, 
2  deacons  and  18  members.  Therefore,  instead  of 
one  church  (Bethlehem)  in  Union  county,  and  that 
one  church  so  weak  and  discouraged  that  it  was  grad- 
ually dying  out,  we  have  to  day  seven  churches  in 
Union  county  with  300  members,  owning  $6,500 
worth  of  church  propt  rty,  and  giving  not  less  than 
$2,000  annually  for  all  purposes.  To  sum  up,  we 
have  these  facts:  We  had  only  two  churches  in 
Union  and  Anson  counties  and  these  were  in  the 
country  and  so  feeble  and  inactive  as  to  count  almost 
nothing  in  the  active  work  of  the  Presbytery.  To 
day  instead  of  these  two  churches,  with  less  than  100 
members,  we  have  three  churches  in  Anson  county, 
and  7  in  Union  county  with  a  combined  mem- 
bership of  about  450,  at  d  owning  church 
property  worth  at  least  $12,000  and  paying 
annually  not  less  than  $3,000  for  all  purposes.  In 
the  beginning  of  our  mission  work  in  these  two  coun- 
ties, one  man,  Rev.  S.  C.  Alexander,  was  employed 
and  the  Presbytery  paid  the  greater  part  of  his  salary. 
Now  we  employ  three  men  in  this  work,  viz:  Rev. 
M.  R.  Kirkpatrick,  Rev.  H.  M.  Dixon  and  Rev. 
Wm.  Black,  and  such  has  been  the  growth  of  the 
churches  in  pastoral  support  that  all  these  are  sup- 
ported with  very  little  more  expense  to  the  Presbytery- 
than  one  man  originally. 

In  Cleaveland  county  we  had  no  organized  churck 
in  1870.  The  name  of  the  Shelby  church  was  on 
the  roll  of  the  Presbytery  and  it  was  credited  with 
fourteen  members  but  that  was  all.  There  was  no 
elder,  no  deacon,  no  Sabbath-school  pupil,  no  church 
property,  and  not  one  dollar  given  for  any  purpose, 
whilst  to  day  we  have  a  thoroughly  organized  church 
in  Shelby  with  4  elders,  4  deacons,  70  pupils  in  the 
Sabbath-school,  received  last  year  19  members  into 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


the  communion  of  the  church,  has  on  its  roll  69  mem- 
bers, owns  about  $4,000  worth  of  church  property, 
and  gave  last  year  $700  for  all  purposes.  At  King's 
Mountain  in  the  same  county,  we  have  an  organized 
church  with  2  elders,  1  deacon,  27  members,  owning 
a  house  of  worship  valued  at  $900,  and  at  Waco, 
on  the  Carolina  Central  railroad,  we  have  recently 
organized  a  church  with  one  elder  and  19  members. 

CHAPTER  II. 
New  Churches  Organized  Since  the  Formation 
of  the  Presbytery  in  1869. 

The  roll  is  as  follows :  In  Mecklenburg  county, 
Charlotte  Second  Church,  Graham  Street,  Williams, 
Mulberry,  Amity,  Newells,  Robinson,  Huntersviile, 
Pineville,  Matthews  and  Cooks.  In  Union  county, 
Monroe,  Waxhaw,  Banks,  Stephens,  Beulah  and  Bar- 
clay. In  Anson  county  Wadesboro  and  Polkton. 
In  Gaston  county,  Gastonia,  Lowell,  Belmont  and 
Stanley  Creek.  In  Cleaveland  county,  Shelby, 
King's  Mountain  and  Waco.  In  Rutherford  county, 
Weaverton.  In  Buncome  county,  Oak  Forrest^ 
South  Side  and  Bethany.  In  Transylvania  county, 
Brevard.  In  Haywood  county,  Waynesville.  In  Lin- 
coln county,  Ironton.  In  Swain  county,  Bryson  City. 
In  Jackson  county,  Dillsboro,  and  in  Macon  county, 
Nantahala.  This  makes  a  total  of  thirty-six  churches 
organized  by  the  Presbytery  since  its  formation  in 
1869.  These  new  churches  now  represent  about  100 
elders,  90  deacons,  2, 300  Sabbath-school  pupils,  2,680 
church  members,  received  in  1891  225  members  on 
examination,  own  not  less  than  $100,000  worth  of 
church  and  manse  property,  and  gave  in  1891  about 
$28,000  for  pastoral  support  and  other  purposes.  I 
may  remark  in*  closing  this  chapter,  that  the  new 
churches  alone  of  this  Presbytery  would  constitute  a 
Presbytery  larger  in  church  members,  Sabbath- schooL 


12 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


pupils  and  church  property  than  one-half  of  the 
Presbyteries  of  our  General  Assembly. 

For  exhibit  of  new  churches  see  Appendix  A. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Manses  Built  Since  1869. 

When  this  Presbytery  was  formed  not  a  single 
church  within  its  bounds  owned  a  manse.  To  day 
the  following  churches  furnish  homes  for  their  minis- 
ters, viz  :  Charlotte  First  Church,  Charlotte  Second 
Church,  Sugar  Creek,  Mallard  Creek,  Philadelphia, 
Providence,  Sharon,  Pineville  and  Pleasant  Hill, 
Steele  Creek,  Paw  Creek,  Hopewell,  Monroe,  Wades- 
boro,  Gastonia,  Union,  Lincolnton,  Castanea  and 
Unity,  Shelby,  Rutherfordton,  Brittain,  Henderson- 
ville,  Waynesville,  Bethel,  Franklin  and  Newells. 
Therefore,  there  are  now  in  the  Presbytery  twenty- 
five  manses,  valued  at  about  $40,000.  The  whole 
amount  of  church  property  now  in  the  Presbytery 
may  be  safely  estimated  at  $200,000  and  is  increas- 
ing steadily  each  year.  The  following  churches  are 
now  building  houses  of  worship :  Goshen  Church  at 
Mount  Holly,  to  cost  $900;  Stanley  Creek,  $1,000; 
Davidson  River,  $1,500;  Lincolnton,  about  $5,000; 
.Second  Church,  Charlotte,  with  grounds  and  build- 
ing when  complete,  $47,000.  Whilst  Duncan's 
Creek  and  South  Side  Avenue  in  Asheville  have  just 
dedicated  new  houses  of  worship,  the  former  at  a 
cost  of  $800  and  the  latter  $2,700. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  YEAR    1 89 1. 

As  to  visible  results  the  year  1891  was  one  of  the 
■very  best  of  our  history  as  a  Presbytery.  Liberal 
things  were  devised.  We  sowed  abundantly.  We 
:raised  more  money,  employed  more  men,  did  more 
work,  and  as  a  consequence  gathered  a  more  abun- 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


IS 


dant  harvest.  We  held  at  least  forty  protracted 
meetings,  conducted  by  pastors  and  evangelists.  We 
built  and  occupied  six  new  churches.  We  received 
into  our  churches  881  members,  552  of  these  on  ex- 
amination and  329  on  certificate.  This  Dumber  re- 
ceived on  examination  exceeds  the  number  received 
by  any  other  Presbytery  of  the  General  Assembly. 
The  five  Presbyteries  receiving  the  largest  numbers- 
were  North  Alabama,  376;  Concord,  336;  Dallas, 
313;  East  Hanover,  360,  and  Mecklenburg,  552. 
The  following  Synods  received  a  smaller  number  on 
examination :  Florida,  272 ;  Arkansas,  392 ;  Mem- 
phis, 482,  and  Georgia,  503.  And  to  this  work  must 
be  added  the  organization  of  the  following  new 
churches  in  a  single  year,  extending  from  October  1, 
1890,  to  October  1,  1 891 .  Newells,  in  Mecklenburg 
county,  organized  November  15,  1890,  with  2  elders, 
2  deacons  and  35  members.  Belmont,  Gaston  coun- 
ty, November  15,  with  4  elders,  2  deacons  and  32: 
members.  Dillsboro,  Jackson  county,  December  8, 
with  10  members,  and  afterwards  2  elders  and  2  dea- 
cons were  elected.  Stevens  in  Union  county,  De- 
cember 13,  with  2  elders,  1  deacon  and  27  members. 
Waco,  Cleveland  county,  February  21,  1891,  with  1 
elder  and  16  members.  Ironton,  Lincoln  county, 
March  29,  with  3  elders,  2  deacons  and  20  members. 
Weaverton,  Rutherford  county,  April  12,  with  1 
elder,  1  deacon  and  10  members.  Banks,  in  Union 
county,  May  27,  with  3  elders,  2  deacons  and  40 
members.  Bethany,  Buncome  county,  September 
20,  with  1  elder,  1  deacon  and  10  members.  Brevard, 
Transylvania  county,  with  2  elders,  2  deacons  and  29. 
members.  Thus  making  in  all,  from  one  fall  meet- 
ing of  Presbytery  to  another,  10  new  churches  organ- 
ized, containing  21  elders,  15  deacons  and  234  mem- 
bers. And  since  October  1,  1891,  the  number  of 
new  churches  has  been  increased  by  the  organization 
of  Stanley  Creek,  in  Gaston  county,  November  27,, 


14 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


with  2  elders,  2  deacons  and  16  members  ;  and  Cook's 
Church,  in  Mecklenburg  county,  December  19,  1891, 
with  2  elders,  2  deacons  and  37  members.  From 
the  facts  stated  above  it  will  be  seen  that  within  thir- 
teen months  12  new  churches  were  organized  con- 
taining 25  elders,  19  deacons  and  287  members.  And 
of  these  12  new  churches  10  are  regularly  supplied 
with  the  gospel  and  the  following  have  their  own 
houses  of  worship,  viz.:  Banks,  Newells,  Brevard, 
Ironton,  Belmont  and  Cook's  Church,  whilst  Stanley 
Creek  is  making  good  progress  in  this  direction. 

CHAPTER  V. 

HOME  MISSIONS  OVER  DONE. 

When  strangers  hear  or  read  of  the  great  progress 
of  this  Presbytery  in  its  home  mission  work  they  may 
entertain  fears  lest  other  causes  have  suffered  because 
of  the  excessive  development  of  this  one  department 
of  church  work.  But  the  facts  prove  that  there  is 
not  the  least  ground  for  such  fears.  Instead  of  being 
dwarfed  by  the  overshadowing  influences  of  home 
missions  every  other  department  of  church  work  has 
been  correspondingly  quickened  and  intensified.  Let 
us  consider  first  ministerial  education  in  the  Presby- 
tery. When  this  Presbytery  was  formed  there  were 
assigned  to  its  care  the  following  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  viz.:  C.  N.  Hutchinson,  Charles  M.  Doug- 
las, George  Summey  and  James  H.  Morrison.  There- 
fore the  new  Presbytery  at  its  very  first  meeting 
began  the  great  work  of  training  a  ministry  for  Christ 
and  His  church.  And  the  Presbytery  certainly  has 
no  reason  to  be  in  the  least  ashamed  of  the  number 
or  the  character  of  the  men  trained  under  her  super- 
vision and  licensed  by  her  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a 
lost  world.  Her  sons  to-day  are  found  in  almost 
every  synod  of  our  General  Assembly,  and  every- 
where they  are  rendering  a  most  faithful  service,  and 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


15 


in  some  cases  they  are  occupying  and  adorning  the 
most  prominent  and  responsible  positions  in  our 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  Some  of  them  are 
no  longer  with  us,  but  have  finished  their  work  on 
earth  and,  as  we  trust,  are  rendering  a  far  nobler 
service  in  the  "General  Assembly  and  Church  of  the 
first  born  in  Heaven."  The  roll  of  the  living  is  as 
follows:  Rev.  J.  W.  Query,  pastor  of  Wellford  and 
other  churches  in  South  Carolina;  Rev.  George  Sum- 
mer, D.  D.,  Chancellor  of  the  Southwestern  Presby- 
terian University,  Clarksville,  Tenn.;  Rev.  John  H. 
Dixon,  pastor  of  Florence  Church,  S.  C;  Rev.  James 
C.  Ochler,  pastor  at  Aiken,  S.  C;  Rev.  W.  T.  Mat- 
thews, Evangelist  of  South  Carolina  Presbytery  ;  Rev. 
Walter  W.  Moore,  D.  D.,  L.L.  D.,  professor  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary  in  Virginia;  Rev.  George 
W.  Belk,  pastor  at  Chatham,  Va.;  Rev.  Joseph  K. 
Hall,  pastor  at  Ashland,  Va.;  Rev.  James  H.  Mor- 
rison, general  evangelist  of  the  synod  of  Nashville ; 
Rev.  A.  G.  Buckner,  pastor  at  Cynthiana,  Ky.;  Rev. 
Win.  H.  Neel,  pastor  of  Madison  Avenue  Church, 
Covington,  Ky. ;  Rev.  John  F.  Cannon,  D.  D.,  pas- 
tor Grand  Avenue  Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Rev.  E. 
P.  Davis,  pastor  First  Church,  Montgomery,  Ala.; 
Rev.  Wm.  B.  Arrowood,  pastor  at  Laurinburg,  N. 
C;  Rev.  E.  A.  Sample,  pastor  at  Hendersonville, 
N.  C;  Rev.  M.  A.  Henderson,  pastor  of  Unity  and 
Franklin  churches,  N.  C;  Rev.  Chalmers  Moore, 
pastor  of  Hopewell  Church,  N.  C;  Rev.  J.  S.  Mor- 
row, pastor  of  Bethany  Church,  Asheville,  N.  C; 
Rev.  John  W.  Moore,  missionary  to  Japan ;  Rev.  H. 
M.  Dixon,  pastor  of  Monroe  Church,  N.  C;  Rev. 
Robt.  S.  Arrowood,  pastor  of  Third  Creek  and  other 
churches  in  North  Carolina;  Rev.  J.  W.  Siler,  pastor 
of  Providence  and  Banks  Churches  in  North  Carolina; 
Rev.  E.  L.  Siler,  pastor  Caldwell  Church,  Texas ; 
Rev.  George  F.  Robertson,  Evangelist  of  Synod  of 
Alabama;  Rev.  S.  H.  Spencer,  pastor  at  Humboldt, 


i6 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


Term.;  Rev.  W.  J.  Secrest,  pastor  at  Rusk,  Texas; 
Rev.  Wm.  E.  Mcllwain,  superintendent  of  evangel- 
istic work  in  the  Synod  of  Alabama  ;  Rev.  Luther  A. 
Oates,  pastor  in  Delaware  City,  Del.;  Rev.  John  B. 
Swann,  pastor  of  Bullock's  Creek  Church,  S.  C. 

Here  are  twenty-nine  sons  of  the  Presbytery  labor- 
ing in  not  less  than  eleven  different  synods  and  in  one 
heathen  land. 

The  roll  of  the  honored  dead  among  the  sons  of  the 
Presbytery  is  as  follows:  Charles  M.  Douglas,  who 
died  whilst  in  college  preparing  for  his  work ;  Rev. 
Alfred  J.  Morrison,  pastor  of  Broad-street,  Selma, 
Ala.  j  who  died  at  the  home  of  his  friend  and  relative. 
Col.  C.  C.  Graham,  Memphis,  Tenn.;  Rev.  James  L. 
Williams,  who  died  at  his  residence  in  Gaston  county, 
N.  C,  and  candidate  Henry  Rees,  who  died  whilst  a 
student  of  Union  Seminary  in  Virginia.  In  all  thirty- 
one  ministers  have  been  reared  in  our  bounds  and  sent 
forth  to  preach  the  gospel  throughout  our  whole 
Church  by  this  Presbytery.  The  following  young 
men  are  now  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry:  R.  L.  McNair,  W.  C.  Un- 
derwood, John  H.  Grey,  L.  H.  Query,  J.  R.  Wilson, 
E.  D.  Brown,  M.  W.  Hunter,  R.  J.  Hunter,  John 
Yandle,  C.  F.  Hunter,  W.  O.  Sample,  D.  F.  Hun- 
ter, W.  L.  Walker,  W.  H.  A.  Williams,  W.  W. 
Williams,  M.  C.  Arrowood,  R.  C.  Morrison,  J.  M. 
W.  Elder,  Mack  M.  Ratchford,  J.  W.  Hunter  and 
Charles  Orr.  We  have  then  this  summary  :  Twenty- 
nine  ministers  from  this  Presbytery  preaching  the 
gospel  in  1 1  synods  and  one  heathen  land  and  21  stu- 
dents preparing  for  their  life  work.  And  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  record  that  not  one  dollar  has  ever  been  drawn 
from  the  General  Assembly  or  any  outside  source  to 
bear  the  expenses  of  their  education.  The  Presby- 
tery in  her  generosity  bears  the  whole  burden  of  their 
preparation  and  presents  them  as  a  free  gift  to  the 
Church  at  large.     And  how  does  this  record  compare 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


17 


with  that  of  other  Presbyteries  even  in  our  own 
Synod  ?  Let  Synod's  Agent  of  Education  in  his  an- 
nual report  for  1891  answer  this  question.  Says  he: 
"Forty-five  of  our  71  candidates  receive  aid  from  the 
Church.  The  amount  promised  them  was  $4,000, 
whilst  the  amount  contributed  during  the  year  to  this 
cause  by  the  Churches  was  only  $3,420.  Of  this  sum 
Mecklenburg  Presbytery,  which  conducts  its  own 
educational  work,  contributed  $1,200,  which  is  more 
than  one-half  of  the  amount  contributed  by  all  the 
other  five  Presbyteries  which  co-operate  with  the  As- 
sembly's committee.  These  Presbyteries  contributed 
$2,220  and  drew  back  from  the  Assembly's  commit- 
tee $2,725,  more  than  $500  in  excess  of  their  con- 
tributions." Surely  when  we  consider  the  number 
and  character  of  the  men  trained  and  sent  forth  to> 
preach  the  gospel  and  the  annual  contributions  to  the 
cause  of  ministerial  education,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
the  rapid  development  of  home  missions  has  dam- 
aged this  cause  in  Mecklenburg  Presbytery. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  minutes  of  the  General  As- 
sembly and  see  what  has  been  the  record  of  this  Pres- 
bytery in  behalf  of  foreign  missions.  The  Presbytery 
gave  for  foreign  missions  in 

1870  $  738 

1871   523 

1872   349 

1873   793 

1874   569 

1875   695 

1876   1,166 

1877   940 

1878   1,037 

1879   1,203 

1880   1,266 

1881   1,505 

1882   1,948 

1883   2,285 

1884   2,652 

1885   2,925, 

1886   4,844 

1887...   3,857 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


1888. 
1889. 
1890. 
1891. 
1892. 


4,350 
5,112 
6,120 
7,015 
8,781 


From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Presby- 
tery has  increased  its  contributions  from  $349,  given 
in  1872,  to  $8,781,  given  in  1892,  a  gain  of  more  than 
$8,000  in  twenty  years,  and  since  the  Presbytery  was 
organized  the  sum  of  its  contributions  has  amounted 
to  more  than  $60,000.  This  gain  will  be  the  more 
appreciated  when  it  is  remembered  that  there  are  72 
Presbyteries  in  our  General  Assembly,  some  of  these 
embracing  such  cities  as  Louisville,  Ky. ,  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  Richmond,  Va.,  and  y^t 
this  Presbytery  in  its  gifts  to  foreign  missions  exceeds 
any  other  Presbytery  in  the  Assembly  by  more  than 
$1,000.  Its  standing  among  the  Presbyteries  will  be 
better  understood  when  it  is  known  that  for  1892  its 
contributions  for  foreign  missions  exceed  those  of  the 
following  synods.  The  figures  are  as  follows  :  The 
Synod  of  Arkansas  gave  $2,168,  Florida  $1,926, 
Memphis  $3,133,  Texas  $3,249,  Missouri  $5,662, 
Mississippi  $5,330,  and  Georgia  $7,784,  whilst  the 
Presbytery  of  Mecklenburg  gave  $8,781.  It  is  now 
and  has  been  for  a  number  of  years,  as  to  foreign  mis- 
sions, the  banner  Presbytery  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly. One  reason  of  this  is  that  at  least  four  churches 
within  its  bounds  support  each  one  or  more  foreign 
missionaries.  These  Churches  are  Gastonia,  Second 
Church,  Charlotte ;  First  Church,  Asheville,  and 
First  Church,  Charlotte,  and  their  gifts  last  year 
amounted  to  $6,458,  more  than  any  one  of  70  Pres- 
byteries or  of  5  Synods  in  our  Assembly.  The  First 
Church,  Charlotte,  for  so  long  under  the  teaching  and 
example  of  that  grand  preacher  and  eloquent  advocate 
of  foreign  missions,  Rev.  A.  W.  Miller,  D.  D.,  who 
organized,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  first  Gentleman's 
Missionary  Society  in  our  General  Assembly,  gave 


PRESBYSERY  OF  MECKLENBURG.  1 9 

nearly  $3,000  last  year  for  foreign  missions,  which 
makes  that  church  easily  the  banner  foreign  mission 
church  in  our  General  Assembly.  With  such  an 
array  of  facts  before  us,  surely  it  can  never  be  said 
that  an  earnest,  aggressive  home  mission  policy  has 
in  the  least  damaged  the  great  cause  of  foreign  mis- 
sions in  the  Presb)  tery  of  Mecklenburg.  So  far  from 
this  being  true  foreign  missions,  education  and  every 
other  department  of  church  service  have  grown  and 
flourished  through  the  abundant  life  and  energy  of 
our  home  mission  work.  And  this,  it  would  seem, 
must  be  the  natural  and  necessary  result  in  every 
Presbytery  and  Synod  of  our  General  Assembly. 
Home  missions,  therefore,  have  not  been  over  done 
in  the  Presbytery  of  Mecklenburg,  and  are  not  likely 
to  be  over  done  anywhere. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GROWTH   OF  THE  PRESBYTERY  AS  A  WHOLE  IN 
TWENTY-THREE  YEARS. 

By  comparing  the  statistics  of  1870  and  1892  it 
will  be  evident  that  there  has  been  a  constant  growth 
in  the  Presbytery  along  every  line  of  church  work. 
Then  (1870)  there  were  23  ministers,  38  churches, 
1524  Sabbath-school  pupils,  3376  church  members; 
owning  church  property  valued  at  about  $80,000  and 
paying  annually  about  $19,000  for  pastors'  salaries 
and  all  other  purposes.  Now  (1892)  there  are  35 
ministers,  75  churches,  3  chapels,  418 1  Sabbath-school 
pupils,  7454  members,  owning  church  and  manse 
property  worth  at  least  $225,000,  and  giving  annually 
for  pastors'  salaries  and  other  purposes  not  less  than 
$65,000.  Then  we  had  five  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try ;  now  we  have  twenty-one  candidates.  Then  all  our 
churches  received  about  100  members  annually  on 
profession  of  faith  ;  now  they  receive  from  300  to  500 
members.      Then  there  was  not  a  church  in  the 


20 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


Presbytery  which  owned  a  manse ,  now  there  are  25 
churches  which  furnish  homes  for  their  ministers. 
Then  we  had  only  one  church  in  Asheville  with  60 
Sabbath-school  pupils,  83  members,  and  owning 
church  property  worth  about  $2,000,  and  paying 
annually  about  $2,  100  for  all  purposes.  To-day  we 
have  in  Asheville  3  churches,  (2  white  and  1  colored) 
with  385  Sabbath-school  pupils  and  360  members, 
contributing  annually  not  less  than  $8,000  for  all  pur- 
poses, and  owning  church  property  worth  about 
$45,000.  Then  we  had  only  one  church  in  Charlotte 
with  260  members,  330  Sabbath-school  pupils,  receiv- 
ing the  year  previous  1 1  members  on  examination 
and  15  on  certificate,  owning  church  property  valued 
at  $30,000  and  contributing  each  year  about  $8,500* 
for  all  purposes.  Now  we  have  3  regularly  organized 
churches  in  Charlotte  with  700  Sabbath- school  pupils, 
and  more  than  1, 200  members,  receiving  annually  from 
150  to  200  members  on  examination  and  certificate, 
owning  3  church  buildings,  2  chapels  and  2  manses 
valued  at  $100,000  and  contributing  to  all  objects 
about  $27,000  annually. 

From  the  above  facts  it  is  evident  that  there  has 
been  a  net  gain  in  the  Presbytery  in  23  years  of  35 
churches,  25  manses,  2,675  Sabbath-school  pupils, 
$145,000  worth  of  church  property,  more  than  4,000 
church  members  and  $46,000  in  annual  contributions 
for  church  purposes.  At  this  rate  of  progress  for 
the  next  twenty  years  there  will  be  100  churches,  50 
manses  and  10,000  members  of  the  Presbyterian, 
church  within  the  present  limits  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Mecklenburg.  And  why  should  not  the  progress  be 
even  greater  ?  With  railways  penetrating  almost 
every  part  of  our  large  territory  both  east  and  west, 
with  4,000  more  members,  twice  as  many  self-support- 
ing churches  and  more  than  three  times  as  many 
young  men  coming  forward  to  preach  the  gospel  as- 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


21 


we  had  in  1870,  why  should  we  be  satisfied  with  the 
past  rate  of  progress? 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PLAN  OF  THE  PRESBYTERY  BY  WHICH  SUCH  RESULTS 
HAVE  BEEN  SECURED. 

1 .  At  its  first  meeting  the  new  Presbytery  appointed 
a  large  and  enthusiastic  committee  of  home  missions 
with  Rev.  G.  D.  Parks  as  chairman,  whose  praise,  for 
missionary  zeal,  is  in  all  the  churches.  This  devoted 
servant  of  the  Presbytery,  and  Col.  John  L.  Brown, 
of  Charlotte,  no  less  faithful  to  this  great  interest  of 
the  church,  have  been  members  of  this  committee 
from  the  organization  of  the  Presbytery  until  the 
present  time.  These  gentlemen  with  others,  minis- 
ters, elders  and  deacons,  have  rendered  long,  self- 
denying- and  invaluable  service  to  the  Presbytery,  and 
.have  had  their  reward  as  they  have  witnessed  from 
year  to  year  the  abundant  success  of  the  work  com- 
mitted to  their  hands. 

2.  It  was  made  a  standing  rule  of  the  Presbytery 
that  full  reports  should  be  made  by  this  committee  to 
the  Presbytery  at  both  its  spring  and  fall  sessions, 
■detailing  the  work  done  in  the  past  six  months  and 
outlining  the  work  to  be  done  for  the  next  year. 
And  it  was  further  made  a  standing  rule  that  this  re- 
port on  home  missions,  which  really  marked  the 
advance  or  decline  of  the  Presbytery  in  every  great 
interest,  should  not  be  read  at  the  close  of  the  session, 
when  there  was  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  give 
that  consideration  which  the  subject  deserved,  but 
should  be  read  invariably  at  1 1  a.  m.  on  the  second 
day  of  each  regular  session  of  Presbytery.  In  this 
way  it  was  never  slighted,  but  given  the  place  of 
honor  which  it  has  held  for  twenty-three  years,  and 
no  subject  has  served  to  elicit  such  general  interest  on 
the  part  of  ministers  and  elders  and  people  as  the 
cause  of  home  missions. 


22 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


3.  At  each  fall  session  Presbytery  decided  what 
amount  of  missionary  work  should  be  undertaken 
during  the  year,  and  what  sum  of  money  would  be 
necessary  to  sustain  this  work.  This  amount  was- 
then  apportioned  among  the  churches,  and  at  the 
following  spring  meeting  inquiry  was  publicly  made 
as  to  how  many  churches  had  raised  their  apportion- 
ments. This  plan  has  been,  on  the  whole,  so  suc- 
cessful that  not  a  missionary  of  the  Presbytery,  in  the 
twenty-three  years  of  her  history,  has  failed  to  receive 
in  full  the  amount  promised,  and  for  some  years  past 
they  have  been  receiving  their  salaries  at  the  close  of 
each  quarter.  Some  Presbyteries  do  not  distribute  a 
definite  sum  among  their  churches  to  be  raised  within 
a  definite  time,  and  insist  upon  every  church,  strong 
and  weak  alike,  collecting  this  sum,  and  consequently 
their  finances  are  in  confusion  and  their  promises  to 
their  missionaries  are  too  often  unfulfilled. 

4.  Many  of  the  pastors  of  this  Presbytery  have 
made  full  proof  of  their  ministry  as  evangelists  in  ter- 
ritory adjacent  to  their  charges.  Such  was  their 
conception  of  ministerial  fidelity  that  they  were  not 
content  to  preach  once  or  even  twice  on  Sabbath  in  the 
old  established  church.  They  went  out  on  Sabbath 
evenings  to  neglected  places  in  town  and  country,  and 
there  organized  Sabbath  schools,  established  preaching 
stations,  built  chapels  and  cultivated  these  missions 
with  such  zeal  and  care  that  already  at  least  ten  of 
these  mission  stations  have  grown  into  churches. 
Bank's  Church,  Matthews,  Stevens,  Mulberry,  Wil- 
liams, Cooks,  Huntersville,  Amity,  Robinson,  Iron- 
ton,  Brevard,  Lowell,  Belmont,  Gastonia,  and  per- 
haps other  churches,  with  a  membership  of  at  least 
1,200,  are  the  fruits  of  evangelistic  service  on  the  part 
of  zealous,  faithful,  pastors,  who  count  not  the  cost  of 
time  or  labor  or  sacrifice  in  their  Master's  work. 
With  this  record  before  us,  let  us  stop  to  make  this 
inquiry :    There  are  more  than  one  hundred  active 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


23 


ministers  in  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina,  and  about 
twelve  hundred  in  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church, 
now  suppose  that  each  one  of  these  ministers  would 
establish  one  or  more  missions  in  connection  with  his 
regular  charge,  how  long  until  fifty  new  churches 
would  be  organized  in  ihe  Synod  ol  North  Carolina, 
and  five  hundred  new  churches  in  our  General  As- 
sembly? And  how  long,  under  such  an  aggressive 
policy,  until  thousands  who  now  never  attend  our 
churches  would  be  won  for  Christ  and  Presbyterian- 
ism  ?  Let  the  record  of  this  Presbytery  answer  that 
question, 

5.  The  Presbytery,  through  its  committee  of  home 
missions,  has  frequently  arranged  for  a  summer  cam- 
paign by  which  a  protracted  meeting  was  held,  not 
only  in  all  vacant  churches,  but  in  every  church,  sup- 
ported in  part  by  the  funds  of  the  Presbytery.  The 
wisdom  of  such  a  plan  is  self-evident.  Many  of  these 
mission  churches  are  weak  in  numbers  and  resources, 
discouraged  by  deaths  and  removals,  far  removed 
from  other  churches  of  our  faith  and  order,  and  often 
vacant  for  months,  and  sometimes  for  years,  therefore 
the  annual  protracted  meeting  in  such  churches  is 
looked  forward  to  by  parents  and  children,  old  and 
young,  with  an  interest  and  a  delight  which  stronger 
churches  with  regular  service  cannot  fully  understand. 
And  the  results  of  such  meetings  are  always  benefi- 
cial. These  feeble  churches  are  saved  from  extinc- 
tion, their  membership  is  often  doubled  in  a  single 
meeting,  they  become  enthused  with  a  new  life  and 
arise  and  build  new  houses  of  worship,  and  from  the 
membership  of  such  churches  we  often  secure  many 
of  our  most  valuable  candidates  for  the  gospel  minis- 
try. For  a  Presbytery  to  adjourn  at  its  regular 
spring  meeting  and  not  provide  for  such  a  summer 
campaign,  fixing  as  far  as  possible  times  and  places 
and  ministers  for  such  meetings  is  a  great  mistake. 
This  is  the  one  great  opportunity  of  the  year  for 


24 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


combining  the  entire  force  of  the  Presbytery  in  one 
master  effort  of  aggressive  work. 

6.  All  the  foregoing  plans  have  proven  valuable  in 
the  Presbytery,  but  not  one  nor  all  of  them  combined 
enabled  the  Presbytery  to  dispense  with  the  evangel- 
ist. Early  in  the  history  of  the  Presbytery  this  Scrip- 
tural officer  was  employed  to  lay  foundations  in 
Union  and  Anson  counties,  where  to-day  we  have  not 
less  than  ten  active,  growing  churches  as  the  fruit  of 
evangelistic  work.  New  churches  have  been  organ- 
ized, and  old  and  decaying  churches  have  been  filled 
with  new  life  and  energy.  Rev.  Arnold  W.  Miller, 
D.  D.,  lately  called  away  from  the  church  on  earth, 
spent  his  vacations  for  twenty-five  years  or  more  as 
evangelist  in  our  mountain  country,  and  the  good 
accomplished  by  him  in  visiting  from  house  to  house, 
in  long  journeys  to  the  most  inaccessible  parts  of  the 
country,  in  distributing  sound  religious  literature  and 
in  preaching  the  gospel,  can  never  be  known  in  full 
until  the  secrets  of  eternity  are  revealed.  Other 
faithful  evangelists  made  their  homes  in  this  region 
of  country,  and  through  their  self-denying  labors 
churches  and  manses  have  been  built,  new  churches 
organized,  and  several  hundred  souls  won  for  Christ. 
About  one  year  ago  Rev.  Jonas  Barclay  was  elected 
evangelist,  and  was  located  in  Union  and  Anson 
counties,  with  headquarters  at  Polkton.  And  already 
the  Presbytery  is  rejoicing  in  the  precious  fruits  of 
his  labors.  One  house  of  worship  has  been  b  .iilt  at 
a  cost  of  about  $600;  three  elders  and  three  deacons 
have  been  elected,  and  two  new  churches  have  been 
organized  in  communities  where  our  church  was 
recently  almost  entirely  unknown. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  NEW  PRESBYTERY. 

The  history  of  the  'home  mission  work  of  this 
Presbytery  would  probably  be  incomplete  without 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


^5 


touching  upon  the  possibility  of  organizing  a  new 
Presbytery  from  this  Presbytery  at  no  very  distant 
day.  In  1869  Concord  Presbytery  consisted  of  44 
ministers,  69  churches  and  6,  545  members,  and  such 
was  its  large  extent  of  territory,  and  in  consequence, 
such  was  the  distance  which  must  be  traveled  twice  a 
year  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Presbytery,  that 
after  mature  deliberation,  a  division  into  two  Presby- 
teries, to  be  known  as  Concord  and  Mecklenburg  was 
finally  determined  upon.  And  such  has  been  the 
constant  and  substantial  growth  of  both  Presbyteries 
that  none  can  be  found  who  will  to  day  seriously 
question  the  wisdom  of  this  division.  At  that  time 
Concord  Presbytery  had  about  17  ministers,  32 
churches,  and  3159  members,  whilst  it  now  (1892) 
numbers  26  ministers,  49  churches  and  4,669  mem- 
bers. Mecklenburg  Presbytery,  at  this  division,  was 
given  23  ministers,  38  churches  and  3,  376  members, 
and  reported  to  the  last  Assembly  35  ministers,  73 
churches  and  7,454  members,  thus  giving  a  total  in 
the  two  Presbyteries  of  61  ministers  to-day  against 
44  in  1869,  of  122  churches  against  70,  and  12,123 
members  against  6,545.  In  other  words,  the  two 
Presbyteries  combined  represent  a  gain  in  23  years  of 
about  50  per  cent,  in  ministers,  70  per  cent,  in 
churches  and  almost  100  per  cent,  in  church  mem- 
bers. And  now,  Mecklenburg  Presbytery  having 
today  more  churches  and  nearly  1,000  more  mem- 
bers than  the  mother  Presbytery  before  division,  may 
we  not  confidently  hope  to  see  a  new  Presbytery 
formed  out  of  the  western  counties  of  this  Presbytery? 
It  may  be  some  years  yet  before  this  division  can  be 
judiciously  made  on  account  of  the  small  number  of 
self-sustaining  churches  in  that  part  of  the  Presbytery. 
If  the  Blue*  Ridge  was  made  the  dividing  line  there 
would  then  be  seven  counties  in  the  old  or  eastern 
Presbytery,  as  follows:  Anson,  Union,  Mecklenburg, 
Gaston,   Lincoln,   Rutherford    and    Polk,  and  the 


26 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


Presbytery  would  consist  of  about  26  ministers,  85 
churches  and  6,500  members.  Whilst  the  new  or 
western  Presbytery  would  embrace  eleven  counties, 
as  follows:  Buncombe,  Henderson,  Transylvania, 
Haywood,  Madison,  Jackson,  Macon,  Swain,  Graham, 
Clay  and  Cherokee,  and  would  consist  of  9  or  10 
ministers  (supposing  the  churches  to  be  suppiled),  17 
churches  and  about  1,000  members.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  as  to  strength  and  extent  of  missionary 
territory,  this  would  be  a  very  unequal  division.  But 
this  difficulty  could  be  remedied  by  the  mother 
Presbytery  stipulating  at  the  time  of  division  to  pay 
to  the  new  Presbytery  a  certain  per  cent,  of  her  home 
mission,  educational  and  commissioner's  fund.  This 
plan  could  be  tried  for  five  or  ten  years  and  if  it 
proved  unsatisfactory,  then  the  new  Pre-bytery  could 
be  dissolved  and  its  minis  ers  and  churches  return 
to  Mecklenburg  Presbytery.  This  new  Presbytery 
would  not  be  large,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  it  would  be  as  large  or  larger  in  ministers  and 
members  than  the  following  Presbyteries  of  our 
General  Assembly,  viz.:  Pine  Bluff,  Washburne 
Muhlenburg,  Chicasaw,  and  Louisiana.  The  ad- 
vantages of  such  a  Presbytery  would  be  many. 

1.  Our  Elders  in  the  mountain  country  who  now 
seldom  attend  Presbytery  on  account  of  distance  and 
expense  could  then  attend  frequently  and  their  inter- 
est in  the  work  of  the  Presbytery  would  thereby  be 
greatly  increased. 

2.  Our  churches  in  the  mountain  country,  which 
very  seldom  have  the  pleasure  of  a  meeting  of  Pres- 
bytery among  them,  would  then  have  two  regular 
meetings  each  year,  and  such  meetings  are  indispen- 
sable for  the  edification  of  our  own  people,  and  the 
removal  of  wrong  impressions  on  the  part  of  others. 

3.  A  new  Presbytery  with  headquarters  in  the 
heart  of  this  mountain  country  could  more  easily 
acquaint  itself  with  the  condition  of  every  church  in 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


2? 


its  bounds,  and  thus  would  be  more  likely  to  guard 
and  promote  their  interests  than  a  Presbytery  whose 
Committee  of  Missions  was  located  in  Charlotte,  150 
or  200  miles  distant.  How  few  men  in  Mecklenburg 
Presbytery  have  ever  been  in  Clay,  Graham,  Cherokee 
or  Madison  Counties?  The  writer  of  these  lines  after 
seventeen  years  of  service  in  the  Presbytery  has  to 
confess  that  he  was  never  in  one  of  these  four  counties, 
and  yet  they  contain  a  population  of  over  35,00c 
souls,  When  will  the  Presbytery  as  now  constituted 
ever  become  acquainted  with  this  vast  region  which 
it  never  visits,  and  can  not  visit  except  with  very 
great  inconvenience  and  expense  ?  But  how  different 
►the  conditions  with  a  Presbytery  on  the  ground  and 
not  more  than  fifty  miles  from  the  center  to  its 
utmost  extreme. 

4.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  our  home 
mission  work  in  this  part  of  the  Presbytery  has  been 
the  very  slow  progress  of  many  of  the  churches 
towards  self-support.  And  now  would  not  the  setting 
up  of  a  new  Presbytery,  laying  upon  the  ministers, 
elders  and  churches  the  responsibility  of  self-govern- 
ment, the  management  of  their  own  home  mission, 
foreign  mission,  and  educational  work,  serve  to  greatly 
develope  their  latent  powers  of  self-support  ?  This 
is  the  natural  tendency  in  all  lands,  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  why  should  this  favored  section  prove  an 
exception  to  the  general  rule?  Could  not  the  Synod 
of  North  Carolina  aid  in  the  erection  and  support  of 
this  new  Presbytery  in  the  extreme  west,  as  it  has  so 
generously  and  successfully  done  in  the  case  of  the 
new  Presbytery  of  Albemarle  in  the  far  east  ? 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PRESBYTERIAN  STATISTICS  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES  ANI> 
IN   THE  WORLD. 

For  the  information  of  our  Presbyterian  people  who- 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


have  not  access  to  sources  of  authority,  I  submit  a 
few  general  statistics  so  that  they  may  know  some- 
thing of  the  strength  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  and 
other  lands. 

THE   SOUTHERN    PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

This  church  was  organized  in  1S61,  and  consisted 
originally  of  10  Synods,  47  Presbyteries,  700  minis- 
ters, 1000  churches,  and  75,000  communicants,  about 
10,000  of  whom  belonged  to  the  African  race.  To 
day,  thirty-two  yearsafter  its  organization,  it  consists 
of  13  Synods,  72  Presbyteries,  1 , 239  ministers,  nearly 
500  candidates  and  licentiates,  2,572  churches  and 
182,516  communicants.  Last  year  about  100  new 
churches  were  organized  and  more  than  11,000  mem- 
bers were  received  on  profession  of  faith  in  Christ. 
The  population  of  the  United  States  has  in  the  last 
thirty  years  increased  60  per  cent.,  and  the  Southern 
Church  more  than  130  per  cent. 

PRESBYTERIANISM   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

How  feeble  its  beginnings  in  some  of  our  great 
cities,  and  how  strong,  confident  and  aggressive  to- 
day !  On  the  23d  day  of  January,  1707,  in  New  York 
City,  Rev.  Join  Hampton  and  Rev.  Frances  MaKe- 
mie.  Presbyterian  ministers,  were  imprisoned  for  the 
offense  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  a  private  house  by 
order  of  Lord  Corn  bury,  a  representative  of  the 
British  government  and  the  established  church  of 
England.  To-day,  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  in  a 
single  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  there  are 
about  100  churches,  235  ministers,  31,000  Sabbath 
school  pupils,  and  41,500  church  members,  giving 
annually  more  than  §  1.000,000  for  the  support  of  the 
gospel  at  home  and  abroad. 

In  Philadelphia,  the  metropolis  of  Presbyterianism 
in  this  country,  there  has  been  a  steady  growth  for 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


29. 


the  last  century.  In  1800  there  were  4  churches 
with  500  members  in  a  population  of  70,000,  or  one 
Presbyterian  to  140  ot  the  population.  In  1850 
there  were  37  churches  with  1 1,000  communicants  in 
a  population  of  408,000,  or  1  Presbyterian  to  every 
37  of  the  population.  Whilst  in  1883,  in  all  branches 
of  the  Presbyterian  church,  there  were  112  churches, 
42,000  communicants,  in  a  population  of  800,000,  or 
1  to  every  19  of  population. 

The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  this  country*  was 
organized  about  the  year  1700.  The  first  Presbytery 
was  formed  in  1705,  and  consisted  of  7  members,  4 
of  whom  were  from  Ireland,  2  from  Scotland,  and  1 
from  New  England,  and  was  styled  the  Presbytery 
of  Philadelphia.  To  day  there  are  in  all  the  churches 
500  Presbyteries  in  the  United  States.  The  first 
Synod  was  formed  in  1841,  and  was  known  as  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  first  General  Assem- 
bly met  in  Philadelphia  on  the  3d  Thursday  of  May, 
1789.  When  that  Assembly  met  it  represented  431 
churches,  177  ministers  and  18,000  communicants. 
In  1837,  Just  before  the  division  into  old  and  new 
school,  it  represented  2,856  churches,  2, 140  ministers 
and  220,557  communicants.  In  1887,  or  98  years 
after  the  formation  of  the  Assembly,  there  were  in 
the  two  branches,  North  and  South,  8,672  churches, 
6,770  ministers,  and  848,233  communicants;  whilst 
to-day  (1893)  the  two  churches  represent  9,780 
churches,  7,560  ministers,  1,012,695  communicants. 
In  1789  the  churches  gave  less  than  $1,000  for  benevo- 
lent objects,  whilst  in  1892  they  gave  for  all  purposes 
$16,000,000.  Since  1789  the  population  of  the 
United  States  has  multiplied  fifteen  fold,  and  in  the 
same  time  the  Presbyterian  church  multiplied  fifty 
fold.  To  aid  in  showing  the  strength  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  the  United  States  the  following  table  is- 
presented : 


:3o 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


HURCHES 

JNISTERS 

OMMUNI- 
CANTS 

O 

O 

Presbyterian,  Northern  

7,208 

6,333 

830.179 

.Presbyterian,  Southern  

2,572 

1,239 

182,516 

2,916 

1,670 

171,609 

Presbyterian  Cumberland  (colored. 

500 

200 

15,000 

Presbyterian,  Reformed  Outch  

920 

796 

109,018 

590 

592 

95,963 

116 

79 

9,346 

Presbyterian,  Welsh  Calvanistic  

197 

94 

10,758 

Reformed  (German)  

54 

41 

7,650 

1,654 

902 

206,727 

Svnod  of  Christian  Reformed  

56 

60 

7,600 

Total  

16,923 

12,142 

1,657,579 

These  different  Presbyterian  bodies  are  all  steadily 
increasing  and  doing  a  grand  work.  They  are  receiv- 
ing annually  more  than  100,000  persons  on  profession 
and  organizing  more  than  400  new  churches,  or  more 
than  one  new  church  for  every  day  in  the  year. 


PRESBYTERIAN1SM  THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD. 

Rev.  Dr.  R.  P.  Kerr,  of  Richmond,  Va. ,  after 
careful  study  of  the  "  Year  Books  "  of  the  Methodist 
and  Baptist  and  other  churches,  says:  ' 4  These  statis- 
tics show  that  the  Presbyterian  is  by  far  the  largest 
Protestant  church  on  the  globe."  The  largest  Pres- 
byterian communion  in  any  one  country  is  in  the 
United  States,  with  1,650,000  communicants.  The 
next  largest  is  in  Scotland.  A  recent  writer,  Rev.  J. 
H.  Davis,  Jr.,  of  Virginia,  then  in  Scotland,  uses 
this  language:  ''The  land  of  Knox  is  to  day  and  has 
been  since  his  day  the  stronghold  of  Presbyterianism. 
Scotland  is  more  Presbyterian  than  England  is  Epis- 
copalian, than  Germany  is  Lutheran,  than  Italy  is 
Roman  Catholic,  than  even  Russia,  with  all  its 
despotism,  is  Greek.  The  largest  religious  denomi- 
nation in  the  United  States  can  lay  claim  to  no  more 
than  ten  per  cent,  of  its  christian  inhabitants,  eighty 
per  cent,  of  Scottish  church  members  are  Presbyte- 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


31 


dan."  The  simple  meaning  of  this  is  that  where 
there  is  one  Methodist  or  Baptist  or  Episcopalian  or 
Catholic  in  Scotland  there  are  four  Presbyterians. 
The  three  principal  Presbyterian  churches  in  Scot- 
land are  the  Church  of  Scotland  (established),  the 
Free  Church  and  the  United  Presbyterian  church. 
In  these  three  churches  there  are  33  Synods,  187 
Presbyteries,  3,199  congregations,  3,348  ministers, 
529  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  1,098,282  com- 
municants. 

As  illustrating  the  strength  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Scotland,  a  traveler  tells  us  that  in  the  city  of  Aber- 
deen, with  a  population  of  125,000,  the  Methodists 
have  one  church,  the  Catholics  three,  the  Episcopa- 
lians none,  the  Baptists  none,  and  the  Presbyterians 
fifty-two  churches.  The  Presbyterian  church  of 
Canada  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential 
churches  in  the  Dominion.  In  1875  the  four  Presby- 
terian churches  of  Canada  were  happily  united  in  one 
General  Assembly,  and  to-day  numbers  over  1,000 
ministers,  1, 769  churches,  698  missions,  and  170,000 
communicants. 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  Is  Presby 
terian  both  in  doctrine  and  in  government.  In  1740 
the  great  division  took  place  between  Calvinists  and 
Arminians  in  the  Methodist  body  in  England,  but 
Welsh  Methodists  were  Calvinists  from  the  beginning. 
The  word  Methodist,  in  the  name  of  this  Church,  is 
to  be  understood  as  defining  not  a  system  of  doctrine, 
but  methods  of  Christian  life  and  work.  It  is  gov- 
erned by  elders  and  has  its  Presbyteries,  Synods,  and 
General  Assembly.  It  is  by  far  the  largest  church  in 
Wales  and  now  numbers  1,012  ministers,  1,439 
churches  and  142,051  communicants.  In  Ireland, 
all  the  Protestant  churches  are  in  a  minority,  but  the 
Presbyterian  Church  stands  foremost  in  the  Province 
of  Ulster,  which  is  by  far  the  strongest  Protestant 
portion  of  Ireland.    The  statistics  are  as  follows: 


32 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


Roman  Catholics,  744,464;  Presbyterians,  427,810; 
Episcopalians,  361,297;  Methodists,  40,526;  Jews, 
276,  and  all  other  denominations,  43,374. 

Prof.  Wm.  Henry  Roberts,  D.  D.,  one  of  the  sec- 
retaries of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance,  sends  me  the 
following  statistics  of  Presbyterianism  throughout  the 
world : 


Countries. 


America  — 

United  States  

Canada  

West  Indies  

Mexico  and  Central  America.. 
South  America  

Europe,  Great  Britain— 

Scotland  

England  

Wales  

Ireland  

Europe  the  Continent — 

Austria  proper  

Bohemia  

M oravia  

Hungary  

Belgium  

France  

Germany  

Holland  

Italy  

Russia  

Spain  

Switzerland  

Africa  

Asia— 

Japan  

Persia  

Missions  

Australasia— 

Australia  

New  Hebrides  

New  Zealand  


1,700,000 
170,000 
11,000 

6,350 
7.500 

1,110,000 
67.000 
143,000 
115,000 


7,000 


20,000 
8,000 
1,500 


140,000 

9,000 
2,500 
23.000 

35,000 
3,700 
19,000 


Total.. 


As  will  be  seen,  the  table  of  communicants  is  in- 
complete. This  can  be  remedied  and  the  whole  num- 
ber of  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
world  approximated  by  dividing  the  number  of  ad- 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


33 


herents  by  four.  In  this  way  we  have  an  aggregate 
5,209,000  communicants  in  the  Presbyterian  churches 
of  the  world.  Dr.  Kerr,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  after 
thorough  study  of  statistics  from  all  lands,  estimates 
the  Baptists  of  the  world  at  3,313,026;  the  Meth- 
odists at  5,849,371,  and  the  Presbyterians  at  8,- 
894,546. 

APPENDIX  A. 

In  order  to  present  an  intelligent  exhibit  of  the 
new  churches  of  Mecklenburg  Presbytery,  the  fol- 
lowing table  is  added  as  an  appendix,  showing  name 
of  Church,  date  of  organization,  number  of  elders 
and  deacons,  Sabbath-school  pupils,  number  received 
last  year  on  examination  and  by  certificate,  total 
membership  and  contributions  for  one  year  to  all 
purposes  : 


34 


HOME  MISSION  WORK  OF  THE 


snox^ 


180 


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IIIII|IIIl|lsililllilla!l|ll«llilil 
If!lllllllfll4lllllllllfl!ll!llllll 


w 

H 
>< 
PQ 

in 
W 

o 

Id 

w 
hJ 

w 


w 
u 

tn 
u 


lllllIIIIII 


PRESBYTERY  OF  MECKLENBURG. 


35 


APPENDIX  B. 


Having  secured  valuable  statistics  from  Rev.  George 
McFarland,  D.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  Ireland,  I  give  them  a  place  on  my  last  page. 

There  are  four  Provinces  in  Ireland  with  a  popula- 
tion as  follows  : 

Leinster   1,187,760 

Minister   1,172,402 

Ulster   1,619,814 

Connaught   724,774 


Total   4,704,750 


Religious  Census  of  1891. 


Leinster      Munster      Ulster  Connaugh 


Roman  Catholics   1,012,007    744,839    1,098,172  692,369 

Episcopalians   147,520    362,791        62,722  27,070 

Presbvterian  and  Methodist      20,230    466,773         8.867  4,604 


Roman  Catholics  total  3,547,307 

Episcopalians                                       "  600,103 

Presbyterians                                        "  444,947 

Methodists                                            "  55,500 


PERCENTAGE  OF  POPULATION. 


Roman  Catholics  

Episcopalians  

Presbyterians  

Methodists  

Other  Denominations, 


75.4 
12.7 
9.5 
1.2 
1.2 


PEJCE IJIIIIITE  .  *  * 

RALEIGH,  A/.  C. 

For  Young  Ladies  and  Girls. 
The  Great  Presbyterian  School  of  North 
Carolina. 

Its  advantages  are  first-class  in  every  de- 
partment. 

Its  terms  low. 

Send  for  Catalogue  to  the  Principal. 

JAS.  DINWIDDIE,  A.  M. 

Univ.  of  Va. 


He  normal  and  Collegiate  Institute 


FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN. 

Asheville,  North  Carolina. 


FOUR  SEPARATE  COURSES  OF  STUDY  ARE  OFFERED 
TO  THE  STUDENT. 

1.  The  Normal  Course  for  thorough  Training  of  Teachers. 

2.  Seminary  or  Collegiate  Course,  including  Ancient  and 
Modern  Languages,  Sciences,  Music,  Drawing,  Etc. 

3.  Commercial  Course,  including  Stenography,  Typewriting, 
Bookkeeping,  Etc. 

4.  Department  of  Domestic  Science,  (a)  Scientific  Cooking. 
(/>)  Sewing — embracing  the  Cutting  and  Fitting  of  Garments,  Mil- 
linery, Etc. 

The  School  is  divided  into  two  terms :  Cost  to  pupil,  $50  per 
term  or  $100  per  year,  which  barely  covers  the  expenses  of  board, 
the  School  being  practically  free,  having  been  provided  for  by  a 
few  liberal  friends  of  female  education. 


For  further  particulars  address 

Rev.  Thomas  Lawrence, 

ASHEVILLE,  N.  G. 


DAVIDSON  COLLEGE, 

Davidson,  N.  C. 


FACULTY : 

J.  B.  Shearer,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  —  Pres.  and  Prof,  of  Biblical  Ins. 

W.  J.  Martin,  LL.  D. — Vice-Pres.  and  Professor  of  Chemistry. 

W.  D.  Vinson,  M.  A.— Professor  of  Mathematics. 

W.  S.  Graves,  M.  A. — Professor  of  Latin  and  French. 

W.  S.  Currell,  Ph.  D.— Professor  of  English. 

H.  L.  Smith,  Ph.  I).— Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy. 

C.  R.  Harding,  Ph.  D. — Professor  of  Greek  and  German. 

W.  L.  Lingee,  A.  B. — Assistant  in  Mathematics. 

J.  E.  Brown,  Jr. — Instructor  in  Gymnasium. 

A.  K  Pooe — Vocal  Music. 

COURSES  OF  STUDY. 

A  regular  curriculum  is  followed  in  the  Freshmen  and  Sopho- 
more years.  In  the  Junior  and  Senior  years  the  University  or 
Elective  system  is  adopted,  and  twenty-two  elections  are  open  to  the 
student,  under  the  guidance  and  control  of  the  Faculty.  The 
courses  are  full  and  thorough,  comprising  four  consecutive  years 
in  Latin,  Greek,  Mathematics  and  English  ;  three  in  Bible,  Physics, 
and  Chemistry,  and  others  in  proportion.  Regular  laboratory  and 
practical  work  is  performed  by  the  students  in  Chemistry,  Physics, 
Mineralogy,  Geology,  Astronomy  and  Meteorology.  Post-gradu- 
ate courses,  leading  to  the  M.  A.  degree  are  given,  each  year. 

EQUIPMENT  AND  FACILITIES. 

The  College  occupies  fourteen  buildings,  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$120,000.  There  are  students'  Laboratories  in  Quantitative  Chemi- 
cal Analysis,  Qualitative  Analysis,  Physics  and  Mineralogy.  The 
Cabinet  of  Minerals  embraces  5,000  specimens,  the  Geological  Mu- 
seum about  6,000  fossils.  A  week-day  Reading  Room,  a  Sunday 
Reading  Room,  a  large  and  well  selected  College  Library,  three 
elegantly  furnished  Literary  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Halls,  and  five  Y. 
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ture of  the  students.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Association,  occupying  a 
large  and  well-appointed  building,  erected  solely  for  its  own  use, 
numbers  seven-eighths  of  the  students,  and  stands  first  among 
similar  associations  in  the  South. 

For  Catalogue  Address  the  President. 


Columtiia  Tneoioglcal  Seminary 


FACULTY. 


J.  D.  Tadlock,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Chairman  of  Faculty  and  Professor  of  Church  History  and 
Polity. 

John  L.  Girardeau,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Professor  of  Polemic  and  Didactic  Theology. 

Francis  K.  Beattie,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D. 

Librarian  and  Perkins  Professor  of  Natural  Science  in  con- 
nection with  Revelation  and  Christian  Apologetics. 

William  M.  McPheeters,  D.  I). 

Professor  of  Biblical  Literature. 

D.  J.  Brimm,  A.  M. 

Clerk  of  Faculty  and  Associate  Professor  of  Biblical  Litera- 
ture. 

S.  C.  Byrd,  A.  M. 

Tutor  in  Hebrew. 


For  Catalogue  and  other  information  write  to  the  Chairman 
of  Faculty, 


COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 


Union  Theological  Seminary 


IN  VIRGINIA. 


The  Session  opens  always  on  the  first  Wednesday 
of  September  at  five  p.  m. 


FACULTY. 


T.  E.  Peck,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology. 
W.  W.  Moore,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Hebrew  Language  and 
Literature. 

C.  C.  Hersman,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  and 

Interpretation  of  the  New  Testament. 
T.  Cary  Johnston,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and 

Polity. 

 ,  Stuart  Kobinson,  Professor  of  the  English  Bible  and 

Pastoral  Theology.  To  be  filled  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Directors. 


For  information  about  rooms  and  scholarships,  address 

COL.  J.  P.  FITZGEKALD,  Intendant, 

Farmvidxe,  Va. 

About  other  matters,  catalogues,  etc. 
T.  E.  PECK, 

Hampden  Sidney,  Va. 


